


the day the stars stood still

by Vahildr



Category: Doctor Who, Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adventures in SPAAACE, Doctor Who Crossover, Lots of good DW quotes tho, M/M, Overwatch - Freeform, Overwatch is Torchwood, Starring Hanzo Shimada as The Doctor, THere isn't really a romantic relationship here, The Dragons Make An Appearance, and Jesse McCree as his Companion, but I couldn't remember their canon names so I made some up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 01:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15898503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vahildr/pseuds/Vahildr
Summary: Jesse McCree had never really believed in aliens or time travel or anything like that. It was just too unbelievable to be true. Even coming from the American Southwest, where UFO sightings were a dime a dozen, Jesse had never been convinced.





	the day the stars stood still

(1)  
Jesse McCree had never really believed in aliens or time travel or anything like that. It was just too unbelievable to be true. Even coming from the American Southwest, where UFO sightings were a dime a dozen, Jesse had never been convinced.

And now, with a strange ship hovering above the planet, an ultimatum of _surrender to them or perish_ , Jesse knew he had to do something, whatever that might be. 

So he ran, opposite of those that fled, running towards the danger: If he was going to die by the hands of some probably grey-skinned _alien_ , it might as well be on his own terms and meet it head on. 

He ran straight into a man: shorter than him, angled features and _handsome_ , with his dark hair and warm brown eyes. 

The Doctor, as he introduced himself, didn’t seem surprised to see him, as if he had _known_ that they’d meet at this specific moment. He had grabbed Jesse’s hand, launching into an explanation on what was going on (and oh, did Jesse want to turn tail and run then. Raxacoricofallapatorians? It sounded fake, to be sure, this “Doctor” must be insane, to think that Jesse’d let himself be dragged to a standoff against whatever these _raxaco-whosits_ were) and before Jesse had a chance to protest, they were gone, this stranger whisking Jesse into a whirlwind of activity. 

Together they managed to save Earth, for the moment, at least, and when the Doctor was about to leave, stepping into a bright blue police box, comically out of place in the dull, ashen landscape of the city, he had hesitated, turning back for just a moment, lips quirked into a smirk, one hand outstretched. 

“Do you want to come along, cowboy?”

(2)  
“Where are we going again? Who are you? The Doctor can’t be your real name..”

Jesse’s eyes roamed the ship - the Tardis, the strange man had said. It was certainly bigger than he expected.

The Doctor shrugged, never standing in one spot for very long as he corralled the ship into cooperating, and Jesse thought he was ignoring the question until the man finally stepped away from the center console, brushing his hands down the front of his jacket.

“As I said, I am the Doctor. My name is.. unimportant really. I am the last of the Time  
Lords, hailing from the lost planet of Gallifrey.”

He paused, digging in his pockets for something, pulling a strange, pen-like device out before looking back up, spreading his arms as if to announce an act in a show, gesturing about. 

“I have lived for nearly 2,000 years, I’ve seen the end of the universe, the rise and fall of empires and planets, from all corners of time and space. You tell me where to start.”

Jesse took a sharp breath, eyes landing on a map of what he guessed was the surrounding galaxy. 

“There.”

He pointed to a planet of shimmering blues and the Doctor beamed. 

“A fine choice. Thesenov, Inhabited by the Qleohmazari….”

Jesse watched him speak, explaining the finer details as he turned back to the console, setting coordinates as he droned on about how the skies rained glass and the planet’s two suns orbited at a constant rate, so there was no true night on the small sliver of land that the planet possessed. 

“Care to do the honors?”

Jesse was jolted from his reverie by The Doctor looking at him, motioning towards a lever that he hadn’t noticed before. Hesitantly, he rested his hand on the lever, looking over as the Doctor placed one hand overtop his, a beaming smile on his face as together, they pulled it down. 

The Tardis shuddered around them and before Jesse could register much else, he was gone, standing near the door to the ship.

“Come, come. Step outside, the year is 18500, welcome to Thesenov,” The Doctor flung the door open, a blue light streaming in. He had a smirk on his features, the look of a cat that had caught the canary. 

“You think you are so impressive,” Jesse shook his head, stepping out onto the planet’s surface. They were in a building, impossibly tall ceilings, glass making up the walls, showing a dark, watery world surrounding them. 

Fish - or maybe something else, Jesse had no idea - the size of cars drifted past, glowing brilliantly in the darkness. 

The Doctor’s lips quirked into a wider grin. 

“I am so impressive.”

He didn’t seem to catch Jesse’s retort, said under his breath as he ran towards the glass wall, staring into the planets watery environment, eyes wide with amazement at the flora and fauna that appeared. 

Had he, the Doctor might have caught the genuine tone to the whispered “you wish.”

(3)  
They are running from yet another creature on another planet when Jesse asks about the pen-looking device always within reach. 

“Oh, this?”

The device seemed to appear in his grasp, almost magically as they ran down the corridor, looking for a set of doors. If they got through those, they’d be safe. Jesse nods as they skid around a corner, sliding across the polished floor. 

“Sonic screwdriver,” he said after a few moments of silence. They had come to the doors, nearly crashing into them in an attempt to stop. “Keep the Tuatraz busy, will you? I need just a moment..”

And with that, the Doctor was concentrating on the doors with a hum of his machine while Jesse was left to scramble for something to dissuade the reptilian creatures now trapping them. 

A box of what appeared to be laser guns rested nearby and Jesse grabbed for one just as there was a pleased gasp from his companion. The weapon slipped from his fingers as the Doctor dragged him into the room, the Tardis waiting for them like a beacon. 

The Doctor pushed Jesse onboard, jumping on himself before getting them set to anywhere but the colony ship they were on. 

“I can’t kill or wound, can’t maim anything with this… But it does one thing well.”

He smiled, brighter than Jesse had seen him in the past few months. 

“It’s very good at opening doors.”

(4)  
“My name is Hanzotthirgogalgrullkadrelbrenn.”

The admission was out of the blue. The pair sat at a table, some sort of strange, pale violet soup shared between them, with the time traveler sipping every so often from a glass mug, filled with an electric blue liquor. He had offered some to Jesse, but the cowboy had declined, preferring to keep his wits about him on the unusual planet they were on. 

He didn’t know the name of the planet, nor was Jesse really sure of the year, or how long they’d been traveling together.

When Jesse met his eyes with a blank stare, the Doctor frowned. “As I told you before, it’s almost unpronounceable for you humans. You can call me Hanzo, if you’d like.”

The name was simple but regal, one that seemed to fit the man sitting across from him.

Jesse tried the name out, letting it settle in his throat, and he glanced up to see The Doct- no. _Hanzo’s_ cheeks darken slightly as he ducked his head. So he did have the ability to show emotion, after all.

“Well, Hanzo, it’s a pleasure to meet you, darlin’.”

(5)  
For once, they were in a place that Jesse recognized. 

Roswell, New Mexico: pretty close to where Jesse had grown up. When Hanzo had seen the place that Jesse had grown up, he laughed, a surprisingly bright sound. 

“I see where you picked up your sense of style, cowboy,” he chuckled, eyeing the tacky ufos and neon green aliens that littered the small towns streets and sidewalks. 

They were here on behalf of Overwatch. Jesse didn’t know who they were. There were whispers of course: a secret government organization? Probably likely. But whose? Towards what purpose. 

Hanzo had let Jesse free for the day. Overwatch didn’t want any outsiders knowing their business, and Hanzo looked like wanted to argue, so Jesse stepped in between his Doctor and the leader of the small group, reassuring Hanzo that it was fine, not to worry. 

So that’s where he was now, wandering semi-familiar streets, until he came to yet another museum, this one boasting of a research center. 

His mind wandered back to the Tardis and the man who piloted it, the planets they had been to, times they’d seen. Maybe… just maybe they’d know _something_.

He paid for a ticket and wandered, eventually making his way into the vast library, searching anywhere for mentions of a mad man in a blue box. 

When his attempts proved fruitless, he left in flurry, rushing to the first bar he found, near the outskirts of town, intent on drinking the nagging feeling at the whole ordeal away. He was four drinks in, bourbon on his lips as he sluggishly watched the other patrons in the hole-in-the-wall bar.

Jesse’s eyes latched onto one of the TV screens. A basketball game was being shown, and Jesse frowned. Gabe had loved basketball, he mused, tilting his head as he allowed himself to be tugged into memories of his past.

Gabriel Reyes had been a mentor to him when he had served his time in the U.S. military, and when he had passed away, killed in the line of duty, Jesse had run. He had never really wanted to be a soldier anyways, so why not run? 

“I’m looking for a cowboy with an American flag,” a familiar voice sounded behind him, and Jesse took another sip of the liquor, letting it slide down his throat with a burn. “A specific one, mind you. I’m not… I didn’t wake up this morning with a craving for… that..”

Jesse snorted. Hanzo must have been done with the calvary then.

“Hanzo, darlin’, ‘m right here,” he slurred, setting his glass down, harder than necessary on the scuffed bartop. There was a huff of relief and Jesse leaned into the sudden touch, light as it might have been.

“Let’s get you back, Jesse,” he murmured, and the human shrugged, pressing closer to the Doctor, breathing in as Hanzo helped him stumble back to the Tardis, enjoying the rare moment of intimacy, noticing, not for the first time how pretty his eyes were. Jesse closed his eyes, allowing himself to be led.

Hanzo smelled like white tea, cherry blossoms, and the air after a lightning storm.

(6)  
“Hanzo.. If I asked for a specific time and place.. Could you bring me there?”

Hanzo looked up from where he fiddled with one of the many bits of equipment that the Tardis held, humming softly. Next to him, two small, draconic heads rose from the tangle they had created. 

The first time Jesse had seen the pair, he hadn’t been expecting them: dragons, twining around Hanzo with the familiarity of cats. One - Jesse still didn’t know if it was Yuzu or Kaki - had draped itself over Jesse’s shoulder like a snake, purring heavily, much to Hanzo’s amusement. They were spirits, guardians, apparently. A reminder of home for the always-traveling Doctor. 

“It depends, I suppose. Why do you ask?”

Jesse didn’t know how to explain his desire. How could he? 

_I want to go back to the day my mentor died. I want to bring him back, I need to bring him back, he’s all tha-_

“You are thinking too hard, Jesse,” Hanzo set aside his work, tilting his head. Jesse looked away and didn’t speak for one moment, and then two.

“I want to go back to December 22nd. Zürich, Switzerland. The year…”

Hanzo was silent, eyes locked onto Jesse’s, waiting for an explanation. 

“Gabriel Reyes, he died that day. An explosion. There was nothing left to bury…”

Hanzo’s eyes flickered then: almost unnoticeable, a flash of electric blue in their depths. 

“I cannot.”

Jesse’s face fell, just for a moment before twisting into anger. “You can go anywhe-“

“Jesse, listen to me. If you go back there, it will only cause pain. I can’t interfere with the past, I can’t.. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

There was a growl from Jesse’s direction. 

“You listen, _Doctor_. He was my father. They never found him, he was all I had. Give me this. Please.”

His voice broke. “I need this. Just to see, for closure.”

The silence stretched and finally Hanzo stood, a sigh on his lips. 

“Very well.”

(7)  
It was cold when they stepped off the Tardis, feet crunching softly in the snow.

The U.N. Building was heavily guarded for whatever event was going on that night and Jesse took a sharp breath. Hanzo watched as the man shifted from foot to foot, hands nervously toying with the edge of his hat. 

“Jesse, I need to remind you that I cannot save him. This.. This is a fixed point in time, changing this, well.. It changes everything further on.”

Jesse nodded slowly, looking once more towards the gates before glancing at Hanzo.

“I understand.”

They were dressed the part of dignitaries that night, Jesse in a tan suit and Hanzo dressed in sharp blues and greys. The cleaned up well, Jesse mused as no one tried to stop them from entering the social gathering.

Once inside, Jesse’s eyes flickered until they found the man he was looking for. 

Gabriel Reyes. 

Jesse felt his breath falter and he closed his eyes. Hanzo placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and Jesse looked over at him. The Doctor nodded in Gabe’s direction. 

“He’s a good man. I see where you got some of your quirks from.”

Hanzo pushed him towards the soldier, waving him away. “I’ll be around if you need me.”

Jesse stumbled, catching himself before he toppled into Gabriel, eyes widening as time seemed to slow, lights seemed to dim when Gabe turned to investigate the commotion.

“Hello there,” his voice was exactly like how Jesse remembered it: rough, the hint of an accent. “Can I help you find anything, sir?”

Jesse froze and Gabe tilted his head as the other man took a moment to find his bearings, head shaking. 

“No, I ah.. You look familiar, I thought you were someone else.”

Gabriel Reyes laughed, and to Jesse, it felt like a bullet to the heart. 

“I could say the same to you, sir. You remind me of one of the kids I used to work with, a scrappy one, to be sure. A damn good shot though..”

“Oh?”

Gabe nodded. “He was a good kid, I wish I knew what happened to him after he left all this… I hope he’s alri-”

He paused as a voice over his intercom went off, accompanied by a single gunshot, echoing through the ballroom. Panic, then. 

Gabe vanished and Jesse was left alone, among the chaos. Hanzo appeared beside him, as if by magic, tugging him towards where they had left the Tardis. Panic flooded Jesse’s head and he pulled away, searching for the familiar face of the man he considered a father.

“Jesse, we have to leave. Now.”

Hanzo tugged on his wrist, pulling him into a hallway as the first explosion rocked the United Nations building, glass shattering around them as they ran towards the ship. 

Glass fell, screams of pain, of fear, of uncertainty and in the calm of it all, Jesse caught sight of his former commander. Gabe stood in the thick of it, helping people out of the danger zone.

Jesse shouted his name.

He looked up, brown eyes meeting Jesse’s own, recognition flitting through them, his attention shifting, captured for just a moment as a second, smaller explosion dropped tiles around them. 

It was enough: Gabriel Reyes didn’t have enough time to move as the ceiling collapses on itself, cement and brick and metal and glass raining from above as, with one last yank, Hanzo pulled him into the Tardis, leaving the destruction behind. 

(8)  
Four days was all it took for the cowboy to fall back into their routine. Hanzo had known that taking Jesse to that date would be a problem, he hadn’t wanted to see the younger man witness the attack that had left much of the Blackwatch Division’s strike team declared missing in action.

They had been sitting in companionable silence, Hanzo fixing up some part of the Tardis and Jesse playing with Yuzu and Kaki, doting on them with glass marbles that looked as if they held galaxies in their depths - Hanzo didn’t have the courage to tell him they held exactly that. 

At first, Hanzo thought Jesse was rambling, but soon his words painted images in Hanzo’s mind:

Growing up in the Deadlock gang, never knowing what they’d make the scrappy child do next. 

Losing his parents to a firefight, seeing them bleed out before him. 

Being picked up by the agents of Blackwatch: Reyes was the one to find him. The offer of a deal: help them take down Deadlock and join Blackwatch or rot in prison. 

It was an easy choice.

Jesse’s memories from then on were swift, unexplained, and by the time Jesse got around to telling Hanzo about how he left, the Doctor had made up his mind. 

(9)  
Overwatch was not a formal organization. With no true leader, agents scattered to the far reaches of time and space, it was a myth that many believed did not exist. 

Hanzo dropped the Tardis in the center of their headquarters and in just a few short minutes, he heard the tell-tale angry knock on the door of the ship. 

Jesse motioned to the door. “You going to get that?”

When Hanzo didn’t respond, the cowboy got up himself, dragons still draped across his shoulders, and opened the door himself.

The door slammed shut and Hanzo looked up to see Jesse’s eyes wide, backing away from the door, Yuzu and Kaki vanishing in a flash of blue. 

This time, the door opened from the outside and Hanzo stood, moving to hover behind his companion as the man Jesse had witnessed die not nearly a week ago stood before them, scarred, for sure, but _alive_. 

“Jesse.”

The cowboy looked between the two men, eyes flashing from bewildered to angry, confused, and just a hint of joy in the amber-brown depths. 

Spanish - something Hanzo knew, but not well - fell from Jesse’s lips and Gabriel responded in kind. Hanzo went back to his work, allowing their time to reconnect. 

Later, after Gabriel had explained all that had happened and introduced Jesse to some of the other agents, showing off the base and everything that went on in the small not-quite-government organization, Jesse’s feet brought him back to the Tardis. 

“You knew,” the words were not accusatory and Hanzo didn’t look up. 

“I.. suspected, but it wasn’t until later that I knew.”

Jesse sighed, silent for a moment. “Gabe wants me to stay. Work for them.”

Hanzo hummed and Jesse sat down heavily. 

“I’m not.”

A pause. Hanzo looked up, confusion clouded his eyes. He would have thought… 

“Why?”

Jesse laughed, reaching out a hand, lifting the Doctor up when he took it. The dragons appeared then, purring as Jesse tugged Hanzo in a slow dance around the Tardis, stopping them in front of the console that could take them anyplace, anytime, anywhere. 

“There’s more of the universe to see, darlin’.”  
fin.

**Author's Note:**

> Once more, I have written something, with love, for my new-found friends in the Target Practice server on Discord. Y'all are wonderful, and I appreciate every one of you. Thank you for being you <3
> 
> This was a labor of love. Doctor Who was something I started watching in High School, and that (combined with marching band, creative writing, and some wonderful friends that put up with my shenanigans) is what really pulled me out of the shell of anxiousness that I had been in all through elementary and middle school.
> 
> So, enjoy something that means a whole lot to me. I pulled quotes from my favorite episodes and I truly hope you enjoy this! Leave a comment below if you liked it, suggestions for future adventures if you have them, or maybe your own favorite Doctor Who quote! 
> 
> I know I left it open ended, so who knows, maybe in the future, there will be some more <3
> 
> \--Drake
> 
> EDIT: I got a beautiful commission from Lumen on Tumblr, of the ending scene! You can see it here: http://kurokoccheerio.tumblr.com/post/178183810457/a-fun-commission-for-cryptid-curioisties-of


End file.
